Servitude (at Justin’s)

Pierre Joris

to time

you are

a two

timer,


man,


jiggle

the keys

to the sky


not to

heaven

toward


the ever

ready battery


earth.

Charge


him with

hibiscus


the wayfarer’s

treat,


the meat of

the sailor’s

hunch


there is no

free

key


in which

to blow

lunch —


it is forbidden

as you should

know by now


to look back

at the

beginning,


the moment before

time starts


that alliance

does not walk

the streets


we straddle

the yellow


of the line

divides


the traffic

from midnight


to midnight.

the time

of


the beginning

is in the


middle

of thinking


you stand

in the band


don‘t hear the

difference


in the middle

it comes from


all sides,

it slides down,


sown yolk

on your face.


[November 2006]